Maine County Could Soon Sell Firearms Used in Crimes

In most places, once they have been used as evidence in a court case, firearms used in the commission of a crime are destroyed.

That may be about to change in one Maine county.

According to an article in the KJ, the Somerset County commissioners are looking into encouraging the county sheriff to start selling firearms used in connection with a crimes, instead of destroying them.

The article explains that, in January, Sheriff Dale Lancaster told the Board of Commissioners that it was the sheriff department's policy to destroy firearms that a court ordered to be foreit because of their connection to a crime. However, at least three of the five county comissioners appear to be in favor of selling the weapons, instead.

While the idea has been discussed several times over the last few months, it came up again during the regular Wednesday meeting in Skowhegan. This time, it came up as a discussion of LD 411, which has been presented by Rep. Melanie F. Sachs, D-Freeport, and sponsored by several other Democrats. If passed, the bill would require that all firearms used in a crime, regardless of the severity, be destroyed.

The current Maine state law currently only requires authorities to destroy guns used in murders and other homicides.

After a brief discussion about whether to take a stance on LD 411 and whether or not to change the current Somerset County police, the discussions were put on hold because Sheriff Lancaster and two of the commissioners were not in attendance.

Currently, the sheriff's office sets its own policies on what to do with forfeited property.